Government employment squeezing in Bhutan

Despite increasing number of graduates entering into the job market and youth unemployment rising, Bhutan Civil Service could absorb only 303 graduates this year.

This year 3,068 university graduates sat for preliminary exams and 1,498 were declared passed to sit for the final exams in October.

Civil service is the biggest employment sector in Bhutan. 3.39 percent of the Bhutanese population work in civil service. The private sector employment opportunity is very scarce. Yet the construction boom due to hydropower projects has opened doors for short-term employment.

As of government statistics, Bhutan has 3.1 percent unemployment rate and his figure rises to as high as 7 percent among young population. Interestingly, government statistics also shows there are nearly 40,000 expats, mostly Indian, working in Bhutan.

Of the total 303 graduates recruited by RCSC this week, 84 are women, while 86 of the new recruits are graduates of 2012, who pursued their post graduation from the Royal Institute of Management.

There are 33 graduates, who completed postgraduate diploma in public administration (PGDPA), 37 with postgraduate diploma in financial management (PGDFM) and 16 with postgraduate diploma in national law. The remaining 217 are fresh graduates with technical background and selected from the civil service examination.

People’s Democratic Party had promised to do away with the preliminary exams of the ECSC exams if it wins the election, it could not materialised this year.

Of late, there are slight decrease in craze among graduates to get a government job as private sector is offering far better pays and perks.